


A Woman Who Stood as a Man

by tiny_white_hats



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiny_white_hats/pseuds/tiny_white_hats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mulan is a warrior, before everything else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Woman Who Stood as a Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShadedTopaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadedTopaz/gifts).



> Here's your final gift for the exchange! This is set any time before S2, as it's completely Mulan (and also Phillip) backstory.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or properties mentioned in this unofficial, non-profit fanwork.

Once upon a time, the Emperor had sounded the call to arms, and all the young men came running to play soldier. They were ready to sacrifice and fight and die, to train until they collapsed and to march until their footsteps were stained red with their own blood. They were the bravest men and the strongest men and the truest men, and one of them was a lie. 

Mulan had been the lie, a woman who stood as a man. She had bound her chest flat and cut her hair short, she had lowered her voice and covered her flesh, and she had called herself a man. She had trained harder than the other men, had gone running and practiced swordplay in her limited free time, and she had weighted down her spear and shield to build her strength. Mulan had imagined that she would be the greatest warrior to ever serve the emperor. She had planned to change the world, to be the first woman of many to hold a sword. 

Instead, she had been discovered.

“Mulan? Why did you become a warrior?” Phillip asked her one night as they travelled together, huddled together by a weak campfire. They hadn’t found his princess just yet, and part of Mulan, a petty, selfish monster in her heart, thought that there could be worse things than Phillip never finding his true love. There could be worse things than the two of them, Phillip and Mulan, and no one else. 

“The emperor decreed that all families must send their oldest son to join the army, to protect our land from attack. I have no brother, so I went in place of my father, who is too old to fight.”

“Did many daughters do this?” Phillip asked curiously, gaze focused solely on her. 

“No,” Mulan shook her head, chin held high. “In my land, it is not seen as a woman’s place to fight.”

“But you--”

“I was able to disguise myself as a man,” Mulan explained. 

“Ah,” Phillip nodded, and sat quietly for a moment. “Why did you leave the army, then? Bigger battles to fight in this kingdom?”

“No,” Mulan sighed, voice cold and hard as iron, refusing to waver in remembered sadness. “I was discovered. The idea of a woman fighting as a man was shameful and disgraceful, so I was then exiled.”

“I’m sorry,” Phillip told her, placing one hand in hers and squeezing. Mulan squeezed his hand back, recognizing his words as the understanding of a fellow warrior and his gesture as the compassion of a friend. Mulan paused a moment before responding, still holding on to Phillip’s hand in hers.

“I am not. I wish that I had not been exiled, of course, but I am proud of what I have done. Every woman should be allowed to do that which men do, and I did what I could to make that so. I may have been the first woman in the emperor's army, but now, perhaps, I will not have to be the last one."

One day, she would have to return home, to a father who was too weak to fight and a mother who had never dreamed of glory, and they would scarcely recognize her. She was going to return a warrior, a master swords woman or a beloved hero or a dragon slayer, and men would look upon her as an equal. She would return home and bring honor to her family, she would give glory to her ancestors and fame to her name. Mulan would be remembered. 

She would be the first woman warrior of her people, but she was not content to be the last.

fin.

* * *  
And today's icons! There only needed to be three graphics, but my graphics making skills are questionable and I decided to make an extra, just in case one of the other icons turned out really poorly. (Because, let's be honest, I'm not really a graphics kind of person.) Enjoy your extra Eponine icon.

[](http://tinypic.com?ref=2i20l85) [](http://tinypic.com?ref=2nq9qgg)


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